Fox Kids Pre-Launch In November 1995,
Fox Broadcasting Company announced a strategic partnership with
Saban Entertainment to launch branded Fox Kids channels outside North America. This followed up with an attempt by Fox to acquire a 49% stake in
TCC from owners
Flextech in 1996, which in turn would allow for extra programs from Saban to be added, but this deal fell through in August, with Fox still planning to branch off and launch their own network. On 27 September 1996, it was announced that the British version of the Fox Kids Network would launch on October 19. On 30 September,
Viacom announced they may file a lawsuit against
BSkyB, citifying that the launch of Fox Kids Network would breach their existing contract to operate
Nickelodeon UK which prevented Sky from operating any rival children's networks to Nickelodeon. The reason being was that Sky was at the time, 40% owned by News Corporation. However, the Fox Kids Worldwide formation with Saban prevented this.
Launch The channel launched as planned on 19 October 1996. Broadcasting between the hours of 6am to 7pm, it was the first Fox Kids channel to launch in Europe. It also became the second channel to launch under the Fox Kids name, only following the Australian version. Fox Kids time-shared originally with
Sky 2 and later
National Geographic Channel, before extending its hours to 10pm. Fox Kids consisted of live-action and animated comedy, drama, and action-adventure television shows for children of all ages, Fox Kids also programmed up to seven hours of advertisement-free educational series each week. On 5 October 1998, Fox Kids was added to
Cable & Wireless, replacing
TCC Nordic. On 1 September 1999, a one-hour timeshift service, Fox Kids +, launched on Sky Digital. In December 2000, the channel was added to NTL's digital cable platform. In June 2001, Fox Kids UK debuted their first in-house production,
Living with Lionel.
Disney Acquisition On 23 July 2001,
The Walt Disney Company announced its intent to acquire Fox Family Worldwide from
News Corporation and
Saban Entertainment, which gave Disney 76% ownership of Fox Kids Europe which in turn included the British operations. The deal was closed in October 2001. Beforehand, Disney announced they would rebrand Fox Kids Europe, and in turn Fox Kids UK as a Disney-branded network, but this was eventually cancelled. On 11 January 2002, it was announced that the channel would be added to
Telewest's digital service on 15 February, airing at the same 6am–10pm broadcast hours as on other digital platforms. The service was already available on Telewest's analogue cable operations. The channel launched with its timeshift on the day. Shortly afterwards, Fox Kids +1 was launched on
NTL. In November 2003, Fox Kids began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Jetix Pre-Launch On 8 January 2004, ABC Cable Networks Group, Fox Kids Europe and Fox Kids Latin America announced plans to rename its entire operations to
Jetix, which implied action and adventure. In the United Kingdom, the transitioning to the Jetix brand began with an announcement on 25 March 2004, with Fox Kids UK announcing to launch a daily primetime block under the Jetix name beginning on 3 April, airing from 3pm to 7pm, The block introduced several new programmes to Fox Kids' lineup, including
Sonic X and
Shaman King. In September 2004, a monthly Jetix Magazine was launched as part of the rebrand, produced under license by Future Publishing. The magazine covered a wide aspect of content including news, interviews, music, and sports. Ronnie Cook, managing director at JCP, added: "We're excited to be able to offer this new UK title for kids. The Jetix Magazine will also provide viewers with a crucial marketing tool for upcoming channel activity." In September 2004, the Jetix block became part of the morning line-up, between the hours of 7am to 9am.
Full rebranding On 1 January 2005, Fox Kids was fully relaunched as Jetix. Cinema advertising campaign produced in-house was instigated to help promote the rebrand, Jetix marketing director Allan Stenhouse said: "Cinema is a fast-paced, action-packed environment where both the quality of visual and audio communication enables us to excite children about Jetix." Shortly after the rebranding, a new early-evening block was introduced named "Jetix Max". The Jetix Max slot included such shows as
W.I.T.C.H.,
Totally Spies,
Martin Mystery,
Funky Cops,
Power Rangers,
PXG, and
Black Hole High. Jetix Max was discontinued in 1 June 2006, although it remained on other Jetix channels around Europe. On 26 September 2007, Jetix signed a deal with Sky and Virgin to allow its content to be used on their video on demand services. Jetix and Nordic managing director Boel Ferguson said, "We are excited about securing these deals and continue to pursue distribution opportunities to make Jetix programming even more accessible to consumers". Further enhancement occurred on 20 November 2007, when its online website started to include video clips of its programmes.
Disney XD Pre-Launch On 28 December 2008, Disney acquired the remaining 26% share in
Jetix Europe and gained full ownership of the company. Disney relaunched Jetix as Disney XD, in the United States, followed by relaunch in the UK in August 2009, replacing Jetix. That same month, Jetix's on-screen logo was removed and replaced with Disney XD's logo counting down the days to the launch. Disney XD was aimed towards boys aged 6 to 14 with
Disney Channel focusing more toward girls. Disney XD eventually expanded to include live-action films and sports coverage developed in collaboration with
ESPN and also introduced
Aaron Stone,
Phineas and Ferb and
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and continued to air shows that previously aired on Jetix, such as
Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Battle Dimension,
Jimmy Two-Shoes,
Kid vs. Kat,
American Dragon: Jake Long and
Phil of the Future.
Closure The one-hour timeshift channel, Disney XD +1, was closed on 30 April 2020. Its Sky EPG slot was given to
BabyTV. Disney XD, along with its sister channels
Disney Channel and
Disney Junior, would officially close in the UK on 1 October 2020, after almost 24 years on-air, due to Disney failing to reach a new carriage deal with Sky and Virgin Media. The channel's content was transferred exclusively to
Disney+. The final program to air its new content on the channel was
Amphibia, with the final program to be broadcast on the day of its shut down was "Wonders of the Deep", an episode of the short-form animated series,
Mickey Mouse. It then showed promos (the final promo being one for
Big City Greens) before the channel froze for a few seconds, cutting into the channel's ident image and before it was closed. The channels were removed from Virgin Media a day before the closure. On 9 February 2023,
Sky Kids took its former 707 slot on
Virgin Media. ==Sky channel moves==